Research Software Group testimonials

The Software Sustainability Institute has successfully assisted researchers with their software in a number of Research Software Group projects. Here is what some of them have to say about collaborating with the Institute:

"We are in a position to fundamentally reorganise the heart of the software. By doing so, this will enable us to maintain the software into the future and facilitate the process of adding new functionality to the software ... SSI can assist in having software usable by others not just for a few months or a year, but rather for a much longer software lifetime"

"We were already following a lot of best practice and it was very good to get this confirmation. We're not computer scientists and don't come from a software development background - we're all scientific programmers - so it was good to get some confirmation that what we do is on the right track"

"It's been very helpful. Helpful in that I gave them a problem that I didn't know how to start answering, and they stepped in without a problem. There's a big step between developing something to use yourself, and something you let loose for others to use. The Institute brought the sort of expertise that we just don't have in house"

"It adds development time, doing things right, but it's worth it. Our code is miles away from where it was. [The work has] really made a profound change to the way we do coding, even down to the way I write lines of code. We now understand the complexity involved in making things run smoothly – it's really been a very good learning experience"

"This was a complex code that had been through many generations... What the Institute has done for us is create more sustainable and professional software that is accessible to other users. We’re very happy with how it went"

"working with the Software Sustainability Institute helped me to develop my own project management skills, in particular I was very pleased with the task specification process and have adopted a similar process for other aspects of the project"

"The meetings and discussions I had with [the Institute] Mike Jackson and Simon Hettrick in 2010 and 2011 had an important impact on the design, usability and functionality of JournalTOCs. We implemented all the recommendations received and, in short, made it a sustainable service"